The Villas We Turn Down (And Why)

Last month, a property manager in Paphos sent us details for a stunning five-bedroom villa. Pool, sea views, modern interiors, great location. The photos looked incredible.

We turned it down.

Here's why — and what it tells you about how we choose villas.

The photos were too good

Not "too good" as in "lovely photography." Too good as in "these have definitely been heavily edited."

We asked for unedited photos. The property manager sent a few, and suddenly the "sparkling pool" had some visible wear on the tiles, the "pristine garden" had brown patches, and the "modern kitchen" had appliances that looked about 15 years old.

Nothing was broken. Nothing was unusable. But the gap between the marketing photos and reality was too big. We won't list a villa if the photos are misleading, even if the villa itself is fine, because we know what happens next: disappointed guests, bad reviews, and everyone blaming us.

The property manager didn't respond fast enough

We have a simple test: we email every property manager with a fake enquiry question. Something like "Does the villa have air conditioning in all bedrooms?" or "Can you arrange airport transfers?"

If they don't respond within 24 hours, we don't work with them.

Why? Because if we can't get a quick response when we're vetting them, you definitely won't get a quick response when your dishwasher breaks on a Saturday afternoon during your holiday.

This villa in Paphos? The property manager took three days to reply. Lovely villa. Wrong partner.

The "10-minute drive to the beach" was actually 25 minutes

We don't just trust what property managers tell us. If a villa claims to be "close to the beach," we drive it. If it claims to be "quiet and secluded," we visit at different times of day to check for road noise, barking dogs, or noisy neighbours.

This villa was listed as a 10-minute drive to the nearest beach. We timed it: 25 minutes in light traffic, closer to 35 in summer when the coast road is busy.

Again, nothing wrong with being 25 minutes from the beach. Plenty of people are fine with that. But we won't list it as 10 minutes, because the first thing you'll do when you arrive is check Google Maps, realise it's wrong, and lose trust in everything else we've told you.

The villa sleeps "10" but the beds don't add up

Property managers love to inflate sleeping capacity by counting sofa beds, single beds pushed together, or "this room can fit a cot."

We count fixed beds only. If a villa has four bedrooms with four double beds, it sleeps eight. Not ten. Not twelve. Eight.

This villa claimed to sleep 10. The breakdown: four doubles (8 people) plus "a sofa bed in the living room." We asked about the sofa bed. It was a two-seater. Not a sofa bed. Just a sofa that "can be used if needed."

Hard pass.

What this means for you

We reject about 40% of villas we're offered.

Sometimes because the villa itself isn't up to standard. More often because the property manager isn't responsive enough, the photos are misleading, or the descriptions don't match reality.

This is expensive for us. We could list way more villas, take more bookings, and make more money if we just said yes to everything. But we'd also have way more problems, way more refunds, and way more angry customers.

We'd rather stay small and trusted than big and unreliable.

So when you see a villa on Bnbstay, it's passed our tests: honest photos, accurate descriptions, responsive property manager, realistic location claims, and honest sleeping capacity.

That's the deal.